# Read Jupyter notebooks on your Mac without starting Jupyter

> Preview .ipynb files in Finder with Quick Look: Markdown cells, highlighted code, pandas tables, charts and errors, with no Jupyter, Python or browser needed.

An `.ipynb` file is JSON, so without Jupyter it’s hard to read. With Gander you select it in Finder and press Space: the notebook appears the way you’d read it, with its outputs, tables and charts, and no Python, kernel or browser involved.

![forecast_accuracy.ipynb in Quick Look: a Forecast accuracy heading, a Python cell that reads daily_forecast.tsv with pandas, and its table of dates, cities and temperatures.](https://ganderfinder.com/img/features/ipynb-top-2x.webp)
![The same notebook scrolled to a plot cell and its bar chart of the mean forecast error per city.](https://ganderfinder.com/img/features/ipynb-chart-2x.webp)

## How to do it

1. Install Gander from the Mac App Store and open it once.
2. Select an `.ipynb` file in Finder and press Space.
3. Read the **Notebook** tab, or switch to **Script** to see all the code as one script.

## Outputs included

Gander shows what was saved in the notebook the last time it ran:

- Markdown cells, with headings, lists, tables, math and pictures
- Code cells coloured in the kernel’s language, such as Python or R
- Printed text and results, with terminal colour codes removed
- pandas DataFrames as tables, and charts (PNG, JPEG, GIF or SVG) drawn inside Quick Look
- Errors with their traceback

## The Script tab

Script turns the notebook into one script: every code cell in order, with the Markdown cells as comments, coloured in the notebook’s language. It’s a quick way to review what a notebook does before you run it.

## Thumbnails and limits

In Finder’s icon and gallery views, notebooks get a thumbnail of their first cells. Gander shows saved outputs and never runs code. Long outputs are shortened (120 lines of text, 60 table rows and 60 pictures), and notebooks over 40 MB aren’t read.

## Questions

### Does Gander run the notebook?

No. It shows the notebook as it was saved, with the outputs from its last run. Nothing is executed, so previewing a notebook is safe.

### Do I need Python or Jupyter installed?

No. Gander reads the notebook file itself and draws the charts saved in it.

### Which notebooks work?

Notebooks in nbformat 4, the format Jupyter, JupyterLab, VS Code and Google Colab save, and the older nbformat 3.

## More guides

- [Preview Markdown in Finder, rendered the way GitHub shows it](https://ganderfinder.com/markdown-quick-look)
- [View Mermaid diagrams on your Mac without a browser](https://ganderfinder.com/mermaid-viewer)
- [Turn Markdown into a PDF or a Word document, right from Finder](https://ganderfinder.com/markdown-to-pdf-word)
- [Convert CSV to Excel on your Mac, straight from Finder](https://ganderfinder.com/csv-to-excel)
- [A fast JSON viewer in Finder, for JSONC and JSON Lines too](https://ganderfinder.com/json-viewer)
- [Look inside an SQLite database from Finder](https://ganderfinder.com/sqlite-viewer)
- [Read any SQL query neatly laid out, without changing the file](https://ganderfinder.com/sql-formatter)
- [Open log files at the newest line, with errors in red](https://ganderfinder.com/log-viewer)
- [Check a .env file without putting secrets on screen](https://ganderfinder.com/env-file-viewer)

Gander is free on the Mac App Store, with no in-app purchases, no subscription and no account, and nothing you preview leaves your Mac. https://apps.apple.com/app/id6817038818

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